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Paramount Animation (Los Angeles)
This article is about the Los Angeles Paramount animation studio. For the main feature animation division of Paramount Pictures, see Paramount Animation (feature animation department). For the animation studio that maintains both the Hollywood, Burbank, and Los Angeles studios, see Paramount Animation. Paramount Animation Los Angeles, DBA Paramount Animation, is an animation division and label of Paramount Pictures. The division was founded on July 6, 2011 in response to the success of Rango and DreamWorks Animation's departure from Paramount in 2012. Its first animated film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water was released on February 6, 2015, and its latest release Wonder Park was released on March 15, 2019. Their next upcoming release, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run will be released on May 22, 2020. Background In July 2011, in the wake of critical and box office success of their animated features, Rango and The Flamingo Prince, heavy fan demand about bring back hand-drawn animation, and the departure of DreamWorks Animation upon completion of their distribution contract in 2012, Paramount extended its animation production unit at Los Angeles, devoted to the creation of animated productions and replaced the lost of distributing DreamWorks Animation films, which are now owned and distributed by Universal Pictures. History Brad Grey era (2011–2017) In October 2011, Paramount named a former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, David Stainton, president of Paramount Animation. In February 2012, Stainton resigned for personal reasons, with Paramount Film Group's president, Adam Goodman, stepping in to directly oversee the studio. It was also announced that The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, a standalone sequel to 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and based upon the popular Nickelodeon TV show, SpongeBob SquarePants, is the Paramount Los Angeles studio's first film and would be released in 2014. In August 2012, in the same month that DreamWorks Animation confirmed that it will be working with Century Fox 20th Century Fox as distributor beginning in 2013, Variety reported that Paramount Animation was in the process of starting development of several animated films at both Hollywood and Los Angeles with budgets of around US$100 million. On July 31, 2013, Paramount Animation Los Angeles announced that they were developing a new live-action/animated franchise in the vein of the Transformers series, which was titled Monster Trucks. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger were set to write the film's script, Chris Wedge (director of 2002's Ice Age) was set to direct the film, and Mary Parent was set to produce the film, with an initial release date set for May 29, 2015. On May 6, 2014, after the released of Puffy, Paramount announced that Burbank studio will shut down on July 31, 2014, resulting in a layoff of 75 animators and staff. The studio's first film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water on February 6, 2015 to positive reviews and was a box office success, grossing over $325 million worldwide and becoming the fifth highest grossing animated film of 2015. That same month, Paramount fired Adam Goodman due to the studio's thin film slate and Goodman greenlighting box office bombs at the studio. Paramount announced another SpongeBob film later that year. In the summer of 2015, Paramount Pictures participated in a bidding war against Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Animation for the rights to produce The Emoji Movie, based on a script by Tony Leondis and Eric Siegel. Sony won the bidding war in July and released the film in 2017. The studio's head Bob Bacon also left Paramount Animation that summer. In June 2015, it was revealed that Spain's Ilion Animation Studios (the studio behind 2009's Planet 51) won a bidding war against other animation studios to produce a 3D animated tentpole film for Paramount Animation Los Angeles, which was already in production since 2014. In November 2015, Paramount Animation officially announced the project as Amusement Park, (later renamed Wonder Park) with former Pixar animator Dylan Brown helming. The studio also announced Monster Trucks, The Little Prince, The Legend of Magic Sword, Sherlock Gnomes, Nights into Dreams, and the third SpongeBob film. On May 2016, Paramount Pictures announced that they had signed a deal with UK-based Locksmith Animation to co-develop and co-produce three original animated projects to be released under the Paramount Animation label (with animation produced by DNEG). The studio's second film, Monster Trucks was released to mixed reviews and became a box failure, grossing $64.5 million on a $125 million budget and losing the studio $120 million. On March 2017, Skydance Media formed a multi-year partnership with Ilion Animation Studios and in July, announced its first two animated feature films — Luck and Split — which would be distributed by Paramount Pictures as part of their deal with Skydance. On October 10, 2017, Bill Damaschke was hired to head the division as president of animation and family entertainment. Jim Gianopulos era (2017–present) In April 2017, Paramount ended its deal with Locksmith Animation when Paramount chairman and CEO Brad Grey was replaced by Jim Gianopulos, who decided that their projects did not fit in with Paramount’s other upcoming releases. Locksmith formed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox four months later. In July 2017, Paramount Pictures named former DreamWorks Animation co-president Mireille Soria as the president of the studio. The studio released its third film, Sherlock Gnomes on March 23, 2018 and became a critical and financial disappointment, grossing $90.3 million on a $59 million budget. In April 2018, Paramount Pictures named former Blue Sky Studios and Nickelodeon Movies producer Ramsey Naito as the executive vice president of the studio. The studio's next film, Wonder Park was released on March 15, 2019. It received mixed reviews and it became a box office flop, grossing only $119.6 million worldwide on a budget of less than $100 million. In September 2019, Paramount Animation introduced its new logo for both Hollywood and Los Angeles and new mascot, a tween girl named Star Skipper, replacing Friendly from Friendly Fox. Process Similar to the JeremyWorks Studios, Animation Group Warner Animation Group and Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation, the studio outsources animation production to other animation studios. Rumble, and Luck are created outside of Paramount Animation, although they will be released under the studio's label. Unlike the feature animation department of Paramount Animation, as well as other animation studios, Paramount Animation Los Angeles doesn't have an in-house animation style, although Paramount Animation Hollywood handled animation for most film for Los Angeles studio. According to Mireille Soria, each film will have their own unique style created by the filmmakers, which would be helped by outsourcing animation to different vendors. Filmography Feature films Released films Upcoming films Films in development Television series : Main article: Paramount Television Animation : S Combines live-action with animation. : R Not produced, but released by Paramount Animation under its label Accolades Coming soon! See also * Paramount Animation * Bardel Entertainment * Nickelodeon Movies * Nickelodeon Animation Studios Category:Company Category:Paramount Animation Category:Viacom Category:Paramount Pictures